Bound Angle Pose, also called Cobbler’s Pose after the typical sitting position of Indian cobblers, is an excellent groin and hip-opener.

Benefits include:

Stimulates abdominal organs, ovaries and prostate gland, bladder, and kidneys

Stimulates the heart and improves general circulation

Stretches the inner thighs, groins, and knees

Helps relieve mild depression, anxiety, and fatigue

Soothes menstrual discomfort and sciatica

Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause

Therapeutic for flat feet, high blood pressure, infertility, and asthma

Consistent practice of this pose until late into pregnancy is said to help ease childbirth

Traditional texts say that Baddha Konasana destroys disease and gets rid of fatigue

Sit with your legs straight out in front of you, raising your pelvis on a blanket if your hips or groins are tight. Exhale, bend your knees, pull your heels toward your pelvis, then drop your knees out to the sides and press the soles of your feet together.

Bring your heels as close to your pelvis as you comfortably can. With the first and second finger and thumb, grasp the big toe of each foot. Always keep the outer edges of the feet firmly on the floor. If it isn’t possible to hold the toes, clasp each hand around the same-side ankle or shin.

Sit so that the pubis in front and the tailbone in back are equidistant from the floor. The perineum then will be approximately parallel to the floor and the pelvis in a neutral position. Firm the sacrum and shoulder blades against the back and lengthen the front torso through the top of the sternum.

Never force your knees down. Instead release the heads of the thigh bones toward the floor. When this action leads, the knees follow.

Stay in this pose anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes. Then inhale, lift your knees away from the floor, and extend the legs back to their original position.

[tags]yoga, yoga poses[/tags]

Do you feel tired all the time?

Doctors have a name for this, they call it Tired All the Time (TATT) syndrome. Patients complain that they’re always tired, and lack energy.

Much of the TATT feeling is caused by being stressed and tense.

Yoga can help you to get rid of that excess tension, and relax, so that your body has a chance to heal.

This happens not only during your yoga sessions, but right throughout the day. Your yoga teaches you to become aware of your body, and muscular tension.

When your neck starts feeling stiff, and your shoulders are knotted, take a moment to get up, and do a couple of yoga stretches.

Be aware of your breathing as you stretch.

You’ll feel much better afterward.

Take a minute or two to do some stretches at least once an hour.

[tags]yoga, tired, stress, tension[/tags]

If there was any doubt that yoga is good for you, a new study should go a along way to eliminating it.

Vegan diet and yoga fight cancer – Telegraph reports:

“A vegan low fat diet combined with yoga and exercise can help fight prostate cancer, new findings show.

Researchers found that combining a diet low in fat and rich in fruit and vegetables with regular moderate exercise seems to switch on genes that fight disease, while effectively turning off others that can promote cancer.”

So there you go; don’t forget to do your yoga today.

[tags]yoga, diet, cancer[/tags]